Videotape hearing close to an end

Lolita Harper

The tale of the tape that allegedly captured three teenage boys

raping a 16-year-old girl is winding down, as a Superior Court Judge

called for final testimony from the remaining witnesses and closing

arguments today.

Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno will hear from the

prosecution and defense team for the conclusion of a lengthy,

meticulous and very technical hearing to determine the validity of

the digital videotape that stored images of defendants Gregory Haidl,

18, Keith Spann and Kyle Nachreiner, both 19, performing various

sexual acts on a 16-year-old girl over the 2002 Fourth of July

weekend.

Haidl’s defense attorney Joseph Cavallo filed a motion earlier

this month alleging that his experts found 17 minutes and 38 seconds

of the tape missing, along with other proof, and offered that the

tape had been altered. Because Gregory Haidl is the son of Don Haidl,

an assistant Orange County Sheriff, Cavallo and the team of defense

attorneys contend law enforcement officials in San Bernardino

tampered with the tape.

Hearings in a rape case, in which three teenagers are accused of

raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl, continued last week to reveal

details surrounding the incident, including another camera used to

record the alleged assault.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys spent the week calling various

digital video experts who picked apart each frame -- 30 per second --

of the tape. Two abnormalities were found in the tape: 21 frames of

black and another 21 frames of frozen frames, which created a

fluttering image when viewed. Experts on both sides of the argument

have various theories for what caused them.

Today, the defense is expected to recall 19-year-old Lindsay

Picou, who said she found a tape containing the alleged rape at a

rental beach house in Newport Beach on July 7, 2002 and recognized

Nachreiner. Picou contacted Pasadena Police Department Sgt. David

Reavis, her older brother’s neighbor, for advise on what to do with

the video.

Reavis then contacted San Bernardino Sheriff’s deputies from the

Rancho Cucamonga station, who seized the tape and later handed it

over to Newport Beach Police Department -- now the lead department in

the rape investigation -- when it became apparent the incident took

place in the garage of Don Haidl’s Corona del Mar beach home.

Reavis is also being recalled by the defense.

John Barnett, Nachreiner’s attorney, said the two witnesses needed

to testify as to what they saw on the tape in regard to scene breaks

and content before it was handed over to San Bernardino officials.

After witnesses are heard, the attorneys will argue whose burden

it is to either authenticate the tape beyond reasonable doubt -- the

prosecution -- or show undeniable evidence of tampering -- the

defense.

* LOLITA HARPER is the forum page editor. She also writes columns

Wednesdays and Fridays. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275 or by

e-mail at lolita.harper@latimes.com.